‘There’s more to be done’ in Lily Hansen’s mission to change the world
May 11, 2018 | Women's Rowing, Andy Baggot, Varsity Magazine
Rower Lily Hansen is on a mission. On the cusp of graduation, this Badger is making a difference in small, but powerful, ways.
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Lily Hansen has long had the belief that she can, and should, change the world.
That seed was planted when she was young, a 7-year-old mentoring an older brother with special needs.
It grew through high school where she read books on leadership and found herself cast in athletic roles — libero in volleyball; coxswain in rowing — that gave her control of the action.
It endured through the personal tragedy of her birth mother, a National Guard soldier, being murdered in a random act of violence in 2011.
It continued through four years as a student-athlete at Wisconsin, where Hansen excelled as coxswain for the women's openweight varsity eight boat and distinguished herself on a host of civic fronts while securing a degree in communication sciences and disorders.
Hansen has only just begun to make a difference.
"I've made it a mission of mine to change the world in small ways," she said. "I don't think it's appropriate to sit on the sidelines and watch life go by. I'm already 21 and I'd like to take what I know and continue to use it and not waste my life."
As an athlete, Hansen has helped the Badgers qualify for the NCAA regatta three straight years with an opportunity to secure No. 4 coming up.
As a student with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.7, Hansen has twice been a Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholar and been named a national scholar athlete by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association.
Earlier this month, Hansen received the Anne Louise Martino Leadership Award, which recognizes the valuable contributions of women student leaders and is the first in UW history to honor campus-wide female undergraduate leadership.
The $5,000 award is administered as part of the UW Leadership Certificate Program and endorsed by female deans at the school. It was first presented in 2014.
Hansen will put the award to good use while pursuing a doctorate of audiology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, starting in August.
Donna Freitag, a former UW women's basketball assistant coach, is a specialist at the Center for Leadership and Involvement Division of Student Life. She said approximately 500 graduates have received leadership certificates since the program was introduced in 2002.
"It's not for everyone," Freitag said, noting that "not many" are student-athletes. "It's pretty rigorous."
The qualification process involves hundreds of hours of leadership and volunteer duties as well as written essays and committee presentations. It's a four-year documentation process, but Hansen, who said she loves writing and public speaking, told committee members that she finished hers in less than two.
"We talk about creating positive change and she exemplifies really what leadership is all about," Freitag said. "She's an amazing student-athlete."
Make it 9? straight top-3? finishes at the Big Ten rowing championships for the #Badgers
— Badger Rowing (@BadgerRowing) May 13, 2018
UW women's rowing coach Bebe Bryans nominated Hansen for the perseverance award that Hansen received at last month's Buckinghams award show.
"She's very mature and she's very brave," Bryans said. "She's very dedicated to her team. Her team means everything to her."
Leadership and selflessness come naturally to Hansen, who has books entitled "Positive Leadership" and "10-Minute Toughness" and "Rising Strong" among others at her campus apartment.
She recalled playing school, teaching math to her brother Will, who was born with special needs. She has his birthday tattooed on her right forearm.
"It was really important for me to be there with him and lead him in the best direction I could," she said.
Hansen was adopted by Mary Ellen and Rupert Hansen as an infant, two years after the couple adopted Will from a different family.
"Will and I aren't blood related, but we're the closest thing to a brother and sister you are going to get," she said.
Hansen's birth mother, 31-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, was among those killed when a gunman entered a restaurant in Carson City, Nevada, and began shooting before taking his own life.
Hansen wears her mother's dog tags and distributes handmade yellow ribbons to classmates and passersby on Veteran's Day and Memorial Day each year.
"Those are very important days to me, so I try to bring awareness to that," she said.
"I've made it a mission of mine to change the world...I don't think it's appropriate to sit on the sidelines and watch life go by" This year's UWGrad are a special group of Badgers set to make their mark in the world ???? http://go.wisc.edu/varsity-8-33
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) May 11, 2018
As was the case at her high school in San Anselmo, California, Hansen started a sign language club at UW. She likes the challenge of teaching others something so useful and estimates that 200 participated in the get-togethers at some point.
Hansen arrived for an interview at Porter Boathouse carrying a very full backpack. It was adorned with a green bandana, declaring her interest in mental health issues.
"There's this huge stigma about it," she said. "If you break your leg, everyone signs your cast and they see this physical thing. But if you have mental health issues, it's not something you can see and it's harder to understand."
"I'm always trying to break stigmas."
Hansen spends five hours a week with special-needs children, which helps explain why she was one of the top volunteers in the Badgers Give Back program in 2017-18.
"I don't see myself as this great person," Hansen said. "I just do what I do."
One could argue that Hansen has already changed the world in ways large and small.
"Yes," she said, "but there's more to be done."
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